


I Don't Know What I Need (That's Alright)

by orphan_account



Series: Minds Like No Other (We Work Away in the West Wing) [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), The West Wing
Genre: Gen, Jed Bartlet is a dad, Minds Like No Other 'verse, prompt: Fragile, references to Rosslyn, trauma responses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26242075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It's late, but Spencer has been at the office for three days straight.Jed pays her a visit.Part of the Minds Like No Other 'verse
Relationships: Jed Bartlet & Spencer Reid, Jed Bartlet/Abby Bartlet, Josh Lyman & Spencer Reid
Series: Minds Like No Other (We Work Away in the West Wing) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902880
Kudos: 27





	I Don't Know What I Need (That's Alright)

**Author's Note:**

> Contextual Notes: In this universe, Reid left the BAU early in the series (spoilers on that, will be part of a later prompt response) to work on the Bartlet campaign with Josh (her cousin). This is somewhere early season 2 before Noel.

Josh’s pain was raw. Obvious. The music started and he got tense and frustrated. Angry, even. But it was harder to see it in Spencer. That didn’t mean he didn’t see it – no, Jed had been around too long to miss it so easily. Leo, as well, though he worried more about Josh’s explosive anger.

Spencer’s could slip under the rug because it was quiet. Self-destructive.

On her third night in the office, Jed walked in. She was sitting at the desk that went between being hers and Josh’s, her head in her hands. Jed had read in her file that she openly admitted, when interviewed, to a narcotics addiction. If there was a time she would have relapsed, Jed imagined it would be when recovering from a bullet being lodged in her heart. A bullet that went through her beloved cousin first, and that left a bleeding hole she could see even in her shock.

She hadn’t. Jed had looked when he could, though he had more than enough things to keep his attention. But Abby had watched out for it, had even tested her twice. Spencer had submitted to both tests without a second glance and passed both with flying colors.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t suffering underneath it all.

She did not look up at him when he entered. Likely, she had not noticed.

“You going to be up all night?”

“I mean, I have work to do. I might as well.”

“The work will be there in the morning.” Jed nodded to the pile of documents. “I can almost promise there won’t be too much added to that pile.”

Spencer smiled at that, but it was wane. The circles under her eyes looked like bruises against her skin, which was paler than Jed had ever seen it since she joined his campaign team two years prior.

Her skin had been pale since Rosslyn.

“Have you seen a doctor since you got out of surgery?”

She shot to her feet, shaky at best. “I did.”

“And what did they say?”

She pushed the file away. “I have permanent heart damage. The bullet didn’t kill me, but it certainly didn’t leave me much to work with. I have low blood pressure because of it, and the only reason I hadn’t noticed sooner was because this job is so stressful it almost makes my blood pressure look normal.”

Jed nodded. “What do you need?”

She shoved a hand through her hair. Her face, so controlled out of habit after years at the FBI, shattered. “I don’t know.”

“That’s alright. It’s alright not to know what you need.” Jed nodded. “Can I help?”

Spencer looked up at him before glancing back at her papers. “I’m not entirely sure.”

He pulled the spare chair towards the desk, sitting so she could follow suit. He didn’t know much about low blood-pressure, but he was sure if he asked Abby she would say keeping her sitting when she was that pale and getting grayer by the second was a good plan.

“Sleep in a guest room here, tonight.”

“Sir, that’s not necessary…”

“If you’re going to say you’ll sleep on that couch over there, I’m going to have a conniption. That’s barely suitable for one night, even at your age. Thinking of three in a row is just depressing.” He shook his head. “I’ll make it an order if I have to.”

“I meant that I would go home.”

He softened. Spencer reminded him of himself. Keeping help at arm’s length instead of just taking it. She was young enough, though, she could unlearn it. “Public transit stopped an hour ago, and I’m fairly certain letting you drive in this state would be criminal negligence. No, you’ll sleep in a guest room here and I’ll make sure someone tells Josh to bring you a change of clothes for tomorrow.

“Besides, I’m sure Abby will love having someone who keeps up with her in science to talk to at breakfast.”

Spencer smiled, soft. “Thank you, sir.”

She didn’t know what she needed, he didn’t know what she needed. But support would be a place to start.

He would tell Leo to look after her a bit closer in the morning.


End file.
